Scars
by Ageless Writer
Summary: Gibbs and Courtney have been dating a few months. One of their "dates" is a jog in the park, when Gibbs notices a scar on the detective's wrist. This prompts a discussion of other scars, both mental and physical. Will they be able to handle it? GibbsxOFC Oneshot


**Scars**

Disclaimer: I own nothing but my own original characters, such as Courtney Hale and her team. Everything else belongs to CBS and Bellisarious. I am just playing with the characters.

Notes: Oneshot

Courtney smiled as she and her date sat down at the nearest park bench, each placing a water bottle at their feet. She panted slightly, catching her breath. "Wow... For a man your age, you can run."the brunette joked, smiling. The silver haired man beside chuckled breathlessly.

"You forget... I was a marine and my former partner at NCIS worked me like a dog... I learned."Gibbs answered. She rolled her eyes and kissed his cheek.

"Anyway, thanks for running with me. Lot more fun running with someone than alone."Courtney told him, taking his hand carefully. Gibbs smiled.

"Lot of things are more fun with people than alone. I can think of half a dozen actually."the older man smirked. Courtney rolled her eyes.

"Something tells me that those are things DiNozzo is probably doing with his woman of the week... Right?"she teased. Gibbs smiled sheepishly.

"I have no idea what you're talking about. But if that's what you wanna believe..."he trailed. Courtney rolled her eyes.

"Sure..."she shook her head, taking off her jacket. Gibbs smirked.

"Hot?"he asked, slipping his own off. Courtney nodded, taking a drink of the water bottle she had.

"It's a bit warm... Especially since we just finished running."she answered after she finished her long swig, setting the bottle back down. Gibbs noticed the small scar on her wrist, one that appeared to be half a heart shape.

"What happened there?"he asked, gesturing to the scar, carefully showing it to her. She bit her lip.

"I got that on my last rookie case. It's a... Bittersweet tale as it was an absolutely terrifying experience... But... It was one that introduced me to Samson..."Courtney answered, looking at Gibbs. He smiled weakly.

"We got plenty of time if you wanna talk about him... I know Samson was a big part of your life and I'd be honored for you to... Share him with me. If you want..."he told her. Courtney smiled.

"He was the only K-9 without a partner because he wouldn't work with anyone. He'd work with a group if need be, but never a single partner. Took him a bit, but he warmed up to me and we became partners... Stayed partners until... He just stopped waking up..."Courtney answered, closing her eyes. She smiled softly, remembering something about the dog Gibbs guessed. "He always pulled little pranks on us. Sammie would hide the leashes in kennels or place some of his squeaky toys in chairs..."the brunette told him, smiling. Gibbs chuckled.

"Life wasn't dull for you was it? Not with him around anyway..."Gibbs guessed. The brunette shook her head.

"Never. He... He was one of the best partners I ever had... After he passed away... I had to transfer... I'll never find a better partner than him, and it wouldn't be fair of me to try and find one to replace him, so I just swapped from dogs to humans..."Courtney rambled. Gibbs let her, taking it in. '_I could have been a bit like that... If I hadn't tried so hard to replace Shannon... A woman no one will ever be able to compare to... Maybe... I wouldn't have hurt Diane like I did... Or Stephanie... Or Jenny... Or any of them..._'Gibbs thought. Courtney looked at him.

"Okay... I shared... Your turn... What's bugging you? What are you wanting to talk about...?"she asked, looking into his eyes through her glasses. Gibbs sighed.

"I... I don't know. I don't... I don't want sympathy, and I don't want you to think that... That I won't be able to... Care about you or anything like that... You know?"the older man tried to word it, trying to find the words he wanted to say. Courtney smiled.

"Leroy. I can understand not wanting sympathy and,"she stopped for a second, making sure he looked her in the eyes as she continued "unless you, yourself tell me you don't care about me or you don't think it will work out between us, I couldn't draw that conclusion. I've known you for a few months now, I've seen and heard how you act with your team, and I know how highly Tony speaks of you, how highly your whole team thinks of you. You say what's on your mind, sometimes without thinking of what to say first. You're stubborn and brash, but loyal and trustworthy, honest. So speak."she finished her ramble, trying to get him to understand he could tell her anything without misconceptions.

The older man sighed. "I... You know I've got three ex-wives... Right? Through divorce."Gibbs started off. Courtney nodded.

"Oh yeah... I know... I know they were all red-heads too... Which would suggest you really like red-heads, although don't expect me to dye my hair. I like being a brunette."Courtney teased, trying to lighten the mood some. Gibbs smiled weakly, chuckling.

"I'd never ask you to do that... Like your hair color as it is..."he started. He sighed. "Anyway... I... Was married four times... Divorced three times... And... No... I'm not married right now, if I was, we wouldn't be dating... I... am a widower... Have been since 1991..."Gibbs admitted. Courtney bit her lip, taking his hand and giving it a slight squeeze, her way of being sympathetic without showing full sympathy.

"That's... That must be awful... I had no idea..."she spoke after awhile, still holding his hand. Gibbs smiled weakly.

"Not your fault... It was a really bad guy's fault... Drug dealer... She... She had witnessed him commit a crime and he went after her... And my daughter..."he choked out, forcing the tears back. One of the few things that never failed to bring the slightest tear to his eyes, and that was his girls. Shannon and Kelly... Courtney couldn't hold back her gasp but quickly bit her lip, trying to keep from going against his wishes of no sympathy.

"I... That's... I don't think I could handle that... No one should have to handle that..."was all she managed to say.

"I know... That's why my next three marriages failed... I still wanted a replica of what Shannon and I had and when I realized it wouldn't happen... The marriages fell apart..."Gibbs said, looking out towards the duck pond. Shannon and Kelly were one of the few topics that could make him somewhat distressed or uncomfortable. He knew they would have come up sooner or later, they always did. Better she knew now. Courtney looked at him.

"Are... You still trying to replicate yours and Shannon's relationship...?"Courtney asked, her voice soft. Gibbs looked at her, noticing the look in her eyes was the same as the one the others before her had had. He looked her in the eyes.

"Courtney. I gave up trying to replicate that. Shannon was my first love and I will never forget her or our daughter, Kelly. I will never forget them. Can't. But I like what you and I have. I'd like to think we're doing well... Better than most of my relationships have went... I am not trying to replicate what Shannon and I had... Okay?"Gibbs answered. "Shannon and Kelly are still part of my life, but I want to be with you, I want to see where this goes. I hope it goes great, I really hope it does, but the rest of this is up to you..."Gibbs finished. Courtney smiled and kissed him, their first real kiss.

"Thank you... For being open... And if you'll let me... I'd like to be part of your life with them too..."Courtney told him, smiling. Gibbs couldn't stop the grin on his face.

"Of course... So... Tell me more about the scar on the wrist... How exactly did you get that?"he asked. Courtney sighed.

"Rookie case. I was with my partner at the time, Officer Korby, and we were on an all call. Everyone was to work on this one case that the lead SVU and homicide teams were working on. Some creep was murdering and raping women, typically those in power or in a powerful position, leaving them for dead. According to the ME, Trisha, they were all tortured to death. It was... Scary... Women rarely left their homes during that time period..."Courtney began. '_I left though... I wasn't quite that scared at the time_.'she thought.

Gibbs looked at her. "So... All officers had to investigate?"he asked. Courtney nodded.

"Yeah... Had too... Fun though... It was my first 'real' case. I was excited..."the brunette said. Gibbs noticed the look in her eyes.

"Not so much anymore though... Huh?"he asked. She shook her head.

"I stopped being excited when the Chief thought it would best to have some of the female officers go undercover. He and the lead team detectives pulled a profile of what kind of women the dirt-bag went after and found all of us that fit the profile... And lucky me... I was one of the ones who fit it to a tee."Courtney told Gibbs. He couldn't stop the slight smirk on his face.

"Wow... You fit someone's profile... Should I be terrified?"he asked. The brunette playfully hit him in the shoulder.

"Shut up!"she teased, smiling before becoming serious again. "And my luck would have it, my undercover op thing didn't seem to go well. No sign of the suspect that they said would probably be around. So I walked to my apartment which was just a few blocks away..."Courtney started. Gibbs could see what was coming next.

"They profiled him wrong... Didn't they? He was there where you were and followed you?"Gibbs asked. Courtney bit her lip and nodded.

"Yeah... He... He followed me. I hit the panic button they gave me and fought him off with whatever I could find. I was lucky my partner had been in the area... Or... I... I would've been a... A victim... Most likely..."Courtney spoke, looking down. Gibbs looked at her wrist.

"The guy cut you?"he asked. Courtney nodded.

"Yeah... My partner arrested him and took me to the ER on the way back to the precinct... Chief was impressed at my ability to protect myself... Got transferred to the K-9 unit and started staying with my partner and Samson..."Courtney finished. Gibbs raised an eyebrow.

"You lived... With your former partner?"Gibbs asked. Courtney smirked.

"Don't be jealous... It was just for a little while... Long enough for me to change apartment buildings... Then Samson and I were on our own."Courtney reassured the former marine, kissing his cheek. Gibbs nodded.

"Works for me..."he spoke, smiling. "So... Second round of racing?"he asked. Courtney smirked.

"Loser pays for lunch?"she asked. Gibbs chuckled and took her hand, shaking it.

"You're on!"he called, both getting up, getting ready to start running again...


End file.
